Origin

In terms of origin, a bomb goes boom (LME from a Germanic root)—the word probably goes right back to Greek bombos ‘booming, humming’. The first bombs, in the late 17th century, are what we would call ‘shells’. Soldiers ignited their fuses and fired them from mortars. Before they were dramatically unexpected events or sexy blondes, bombshells were originally the casings of such devices. Bombs as we know them came to prominence in the First World War. It was not until after the Second World War, though, that to go like a bomb began to be used for ‘to go very fast’, or cost a bomb for ‘be very expensive’. See also atom. A bombardier (late 16th century) gets his name from an early gun called a bombard (Late Middle English), which came from the same source as bomb.